Prasthanatrayi Swaminarayan Bhashyam (Study)
by Sadhu Gyanananddas | 2021 | 123,778 words
This page relates ‘4.4j. Apta-Vakya Pramana’ of the study on the Prasthanatrayi Swaminarayan Bhashyam in Light of Swaminarayan Vachanamrut (Vacanamrita). His 18th-century teachings belong to Vedanta philosophy and were compiled as the Vacanamrita, revolving around the five ontological entities of Jiva, Ishvara, Maya, Aksharabrahman, and Parabrahman. Roughly 200 years later, Bhadreshdas composed a commentary (Bhasya) correlating the principles of Vachanamrut.
4.4j. Āpta-Vākya Pramāṇa
As we discussed, verbal scripture testimony is the most reliable source (pramāṇa) among all the epistemological means whereby one can adequately know the nature of the transcendental, otherwise imperceptible Parabrahman and Akṣarabrahman are indeed very difficult to know.
The Bhāṣyakāra explains in the Śuddha:
śabdo yo hi yathārthaḥ syāt prāmāṇyaṃ bhajate sadā |
anyathā naiva prāmāṇyaṃ duṣṭaśabdādanarthadhīḥ ||[1]“A verbal statement conveying valid knowledge must have an authentic source which must be free from defects. Otherwise, due to defects of spoiled intellect, it cannot be considered as a valid pramāṇa.”
Śabda pramāṇa is verbal testimony. It is also called ‘āpta-vākyas’ (statement of a trust-worthy person’, and authentic word). Only a āpta puruṣa (trustworthy person) possessed of knowledge can impart accurate knowledge. Now, who is an āpta puruṣa?
The Bhāṣyakāra investigates:
harergurośca yaḥ śabdaḥ pramāṇaṃ nikhilo mataḥ |
tadupadiṣṭaṃ sacchāstraṃ pramāṇaṃ tatkṛtārthakam ||[2]“Parabrahman, Akṣarabrahman, and Guru are āpta puruṣa. Their words need no verification. In fact, their words become scriptures. As a result, these scriptures are counted as authentic scriptures.”
Svāminārāyaṇa explains with an analogy:
“Whatever the āpta puruṣas of the past have prescribed in the scriptures is valid. Take the example of a rich businessman. If he writes a draft to pay some other businessman, then although it seems that the piece of paper is not worth even a single rupee, it is indeed money. Only when one cashes the draft the businessman had signed does one subsequently receive a large sum of money from that very same draft. Similarly, although at the time there may not seem to be any benefit in observing the moral do’s and don’ts, one who does observe dharma by the command of a great Satpuruṣa ultimately attains liberation -just as one receives cash from drafts.” (Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā II/6, pp.395-396)
Thus, in the darśana tradition, the trustworthy person has great significance. Not only to understand the meaning of the scriptures but also, have they provided valid guidance to a seeker who wants to advance on the path of spirituality.
Footnotes and references:
[2]:
Svāminārāyaṇa Siddhāntasudhā Kārikā, p.255